Kamaz. Assemblers 1973

Petros Malayan made this painting, Kamaz. Assemblers, with what looks like tempera, and it's a fascinating dance between representation and something more abstract. The palette is subdued, almost monochromatic, with these pops of rust and ochre that give it a gritty, industrial feel. Look at the surface; it's not about smooth illusionism. You can almost feel the texture of the paint, like it's been scrubbed into the canvas. The circles there on the bottom left, they’re not just pipes; they’re shapes, echoing and repeating, creating a rhythm that’s almost musical. There's a real tension between the geometric rigidity of the pipes and the human element of the workers in the background. Malayan’s work reminds me a little of Fernand Léger, who was also obsessed with machines and the modern world, but there's something more personal here, a quiet observation of labor and industry that transcends simple representation. It’s like he's saying, "Here's the world, but what does it mean to be in it?".